154C Histories

Britain

British Witan Council

council of Anglo-Saxon tribes that created the idea of a body representative of the people and it could make and enforce rules.

William the Conqueror concentrated power

1066

brought together the different tribes and concentrated power under the office of the king.

Magnum Concillium

1081

established by William the Conqueror to unify the nation

Magna Carta

1215

peoples right to rule of law, king's power not unlimited, abuses of power might be resisted

House of Commons

1250 - 2013

popular consent to taxes, could be passed if there was discussion with the representatives of the people and the king.

Great Council

1254 - 1999

great nobles, churchmen. origin of the HOL. calls 2 knights for each county.

Money proposals start in HOC and then are approved in HOL

1400

gives HOC more power than previously

Property Qualification for Suffrage

1400 - 1830

seats not redistributed as population increases
elections were corrupt
seats had a price, large towns with no representation

Henry VII as 1st Tudor

1485 - 1509

Tudors came to power after War of Roses

firm, orderly gov't, strong king. Parliament was servant to the king.
Privy Council had much of the gov't activity and members were picked by the king.

Queen Elizabeth (Tudor)

1558 - 1603

HOC influence increased, independence increased and began starting to criticize the queen

James I as 1st Stuart

1603 - 1625

Believed in divine right of kinds, tried to rule without Parliament.
Stuart's were Roman Catholic while population was Protestant.
Parliament believed that competing power centers created the notion that the king should not be absolute and that there should be forces to check the king.

Charles I

1625 - 1649

Dissolved 1st two Parliaments, none called between 1629-40
Forced loans
1640 called Parliament to pay for war with Scotland

Petition of Right

1628

Drawn up by Parliament as second-coming of Magna Carta
asserting ancient liberties, denouncing royal abuses, forced Charles to accept it.

Civil War

1642 - 1649

King v. Parliament
King's priests and aristocrats fighting for Catholicism v. Protestant and their supporters
King beheaded for "high treason"

Oliver Cromwell

1653 - 1658

Not of the monarchy
disagreed with Parliament
populous called to bring back the monarchy

Charles II Restores Monarchy

1658 - 1685

Restored the monarchy, accepted Parliament

Tories and Whigs

1660

Tories were land-owning and supported the King
Whigs were nobles and merchant class

Shows distinction in ideals and formation of political parties

James II & Glorious Revolution

1685 - 1688

tried to restore Catholic church and quarreled with Parliament
James II forced off throne
Ended with Bill of Rights

King becomes the background

King begins to pick ministers that shared the view of the Parliamentary majority, not the King
Parliament moves to the foreground, King to the background

George I and George II as 1st two Hanovers

1714 - 1760

couldn't speak English, so there was a decline in royal power
rise of cabinet with Kings not presiding over cabinet

Sir Robert Walpole as 1st Prime Minister

1721 - 1742

Becomes 1st PM chosen by Cabinet and Parliament

Great Reform Act

1832

beginning of democracy
increased vote from 3% of population
people should be represented by approximate population
growing middle class gets a vote
weakened nobility, landed gentry in Parliament

Artisans of Towns Get Vote

1867

increased voting population to 16%

Working Class Gets Vote

1884

Women Get Vote

1918

97% of Population Could Vote

1928

increased power of HOC over the HOL

Japan

Centralized Gov't Modeled After China

600 - 800

emperor
civil service exams to pick officials, but only aristocrats were eligible to take the exams
700-800: needed more land, so people waged military campaigns. gov't began to breakdown due to tax evasion and loss of revenues. frontier families recruited private armies

Feudalism

800 - 1600

Shogun (Minamoto) Established Control

1185 - 1333

had to suppress the "barbarians"
elevated shogun to position of importance
emperor still seen as an important symbol and acted as a source of legitimacy

Daimyo/Samurai Warfare

1333 - 1550

daimyo and samurai competed against each other for title of shogun

Military Established Central Rule

1550 - 1603

Tokugawa

1603 - 1868

consolidated military power under the new shogun Ieyashu
froze status quo to maintain stability
shogun was able to govern 1/4 of the country directly, and the rest was governed by several hundred daimyo and assisted by samurai
shogun had put allies in the administration and excluded the people he had defeated
all daimyo were forced to leave their families every half year and the family would have to stay in Edo as hostages of the shogun, and the rest of the year the shogun would be by himself in his own territory
schools set up to train samurai, and they began to become bureaucrats in the feudal gov't as there was 250 years of peace
trade and merchants prospered, but this unsettled the class structure
eventually, the daimyos couldn't manage finances, so they cut samurai stipends

Forcible Closure of the State

1638 - 1853

Commercial Treaty with US

1853

opened Japan to Western influence and trade
weakened Tokugawa house since they conceded with the outside world, which was not a popular choice
rivals that were initially excluded from the Tokugawa gov't felt encouraged to conspire to overthrow the gov't

Meiji Restoration and Reforms

1868 - 1869

Choshu and Satsuma defeat the shogun
Bloodless revolution: done by young samurai coalition, not commoners. against Tokugawa remnant forces.
emperor authority restored
government-led industrialization, wanted to develop a rich country with a strong army (technology, education, entrepreneurship, etc)
leadership became very militaristic (wanted to be equal with the west, had a sense of foreign threat, implemented imperialistic foreign policy)

End of Feudalism

1871

Genro Oligarchy

1889 - 1918

wrote a conservative constitution where emperor was supreme political leader, Japan was land of the Sun Goddess, subjects were emperor's children who could advise and assist him but had no rights, state seen as a large family headed by a patriarch. took influence from Germany's constitution.

concentrated power and staffed bureaucracy with their own supporters.

formed cabinets from themselves and took turns being PM

created a weak Parliament (Diet) to advise emperor, but only 1% of population had a vote in Diet Lower House

Genro Resigns due to Industrial Revolution Social Changes

1918

as industry was created, a working/middle class was necessary and the new classes demanded a place in gov't

July Monarchy

2nd Republic/Empire

3rd Republic

from 1870-1875, it was a modern monarchy.
from 1875-1940, it was going through a liberalization stage

Vichy Occupation

1940 - 1945

conservative reaction

4th Republic

1946 - 1958

liberalization

5th Republic

1958 - 2013

1958-1981, conservative reaction
1981-present, liberalization

Mexico

Spanish Occupation

1521 - 1810

Imposed Catholic religion
Forced use of Spanish language
United Indian kingdoms under one
Imposed hierarchy on top of the old hierarchy (Spaniards above natives)
Exploited natural resources and shipped them to Spain

War of Independence

1810 - 1821

after independence was gained, they tried to model the US gov't. Didn't work because they already had a strong Presidential figure that overpowered Congress. No sense of checks and balances.

Santa Anna

1824 - 1855

Diaz

1876 - 1910

The Revolution

1910 - 1917

violent contest for power, revolved around nationalism
reforms came in the form of the socialist constitution, which focused on land distribution, some workers rights, separation of church and state and social justice.

led to the creation of the National Revolutionary Party (NRP), which was later changed to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) which held power until 2000. in 1929, there were 51 political parties, but NRP integrated most of them and by 1933 there were only 4.

one effect of the revolution was the decrease in military power post-revolution. in the 1930s, peasants were given land and arms in order to reduce the power and influence of the military. those in the military were given compensation and loans to start businesses, which ended up fracturing the military sector.

Huerta

1913

Controls Against Local Bosses Begin

1920

created a professional army, which shifted obedience from these local bosses (caciques and caudillos) to a national structure that represented national loyalty. process was difficult and violent.

Cardenas Presidency

1934 - 1940

stopped persecutions of the church, increased public tolerance for the church